(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to trash containers and flexible, collapsible container liners of the type often employed in collecting yard, house and workplace refuse and other similar types of refuse. More particularly, the present invention relates to an air channel system for eliminating a vacuum in a trash container that is commonly experienced during removal of a trash-filled liner from the container, which if not eliminated undesirably tends to cause the retention of the liner inside the container. One embodiment of the present invention involves a unitary trash container having an air channel system integrally formed with the trash container sidewall. Another embodiment of the present invention involves an adaptor piece attaching to the sidewall of most any standard, commercially available trash container.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Air ventilation systems for trash containers are known in the art. Some air ventilation systems are integrally formed in a trash container sidewall. Containers employing these types of prior art systems typically have pleated sidewalls. The pleats give the sidewalls a "wavy" or corrugated configuration, both inside and out. Generally, the pleats define between themselves a plurality of circumferentially spaced apart, generally vertical conduits. The conduits generally extend vertically from the closed bottom to the open top of the trash container and, in consequence, permit the conduction of air between the container sidewall and a liner inserted into the container, back and forth between the open top and areas within the container cavity near the closed bottom. A prior art system of the type described above is shown by U.S. Pat. No. 4,715,572.
Other prior art air ventilation systems generally comprise hollow tubes (though not necessarily cylindrical tubes) for attaching to a trash container sidewall. These types of prior art air ventilation systems essentially consist of a customized component for a limited range of trash container configurations having at least one substantially flat area of interior sidewall extending between the top and bottom of the container. When attached to a container sidewall, these hollow tubes have lower open ends positioned near the container bottom and upper open ends correspondingly positioned near the container top, and so provide the conduction of air back and forth between areas near the closed bottom and open top of the trash container. Prior art systems of this type are shown by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,294,379 and No. 4,941,653.
There are several disadvantages associated with the prior art systems. The deficiencies of the integrated sidewall/air ventilation systems include the fact that the sidewall is often required to be formed in a "wavy" or corrugated configuration. As previously indicated, these types of systems achieve ventilation by virtue of the corrugated sidewall. These corrugated sidewalls are chiefly deficient in that they complicate the molding of the container and thereby increase the costs involved in the fabrication of the trash container. Providing corrugated sidewall in containers also often prevents their being stacked or nested one inside another.
As for the hollow tube systems, the fact that they generally consist of straight and rigid tube members requires that they be assembled to a container having generally planar surface portions. Few standard, commercially available trash containers have sidewalls that have the required planar surface. In addition, many hollow tube systems have significant cross-section dimensions in relation to the horizontal cross-section of the standard trash container. The hollow tube systems often project inwardly from the sidewalls into the container cavity to a significant extent, thereby occupying a noticeable percentage of the volume of the container cavity. One undesirable consequence of these substantially sized hollow tubes is that their lower ends project as small overhangs that are nevertheless large enough to catch or snag the trash liner often causing the liner to rip or tear as it is removed from the container. Another undesirable aspect involves the attachment of the hollow tube to the sidewall. Namely, the attached hollow tube presents a laterally narrow surface area for attachment to the container interior. Over a period of time, repeatedly removing filled trash liners from the container exerts forces on the sides of the tube that often tend to work the tube loose from its attachment to the container. Containers having tubes formed in their interiors are also often disadvantaged in that the tubes are expensive to fabricate in the containers, they often interfere with the containers being stacked or nested one inside another, and the interior of the tubes are difficult to clean.
What is needed to overcome the disadvantages of the integrated sidewall/air ventilation systems of the prior art is an improved air channel system in which the integrated configuration is not unduly complicated and expensive to fabricate and does not prevent stacking or nesting containers one inside another. What is needed to overcome the disadvantages of the tube type ventilation systems of the prior art is an improved air channel system that attaches easily to the trash container sidewall, does not project too far inwardly into the trash container cavity, nor present liner-tearing projections, all while providing ease of use with almost any standard, commercially available trash container, even those having sidewalls with surface contours that are other than planar.